


What's Past is Prologue

by ShaneVansen



Category: Forever (TV)
Genre: Episode Tag, Friendship, Gen, father/son chat, post-ep
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-24
Updated: 2015-03-24
Packaged: 2018-03-19 08:47:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 754
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3603837
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShaneVansen/pseuds/ShaneVansen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Henry's secret is safe for now, but Abe thinks his father has other things he should be worrying about.  (post-1x17 <i>Social Engineering</i>)</p>
            </blockquote>





	What's Past is Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Many thanks to December21st and Peanutbutterer for betaing (though the latter's contribution was basically 'looks good!', so I'm not sure if that counts). Remaining errors or poorly written sentences belong entirely to me and my editing laziness.
> 
> Set immediately post- _Social Engineering_.

"...and so you see, in the end she did the right thing."

Henry looks pleased with himself, but Abe isn't so sure his father understands the gravity of the situation. "You're making a mistake, you know."

"About Liz?" Henry frowns. "I don't believe so, Abe. She hasn't always made the best choices, that's true, but I trust that she won't divulge my secret."

"Not the girl." He waves his hand, dismissing the young hacktivist. "I'm talking about Jo. You're digging yourself in deeper with these new lies."

Henry has the gall to look indignant. "It's not a lie. Though Liz had no way of knowing, I did, in fact, graduate from Oxford at the top of my class."

Abe snorts. "Yeah, in 1898." He levels a look at his father. "I've been telling you for months that you should tell Jo the truth, but you're afraid of how she'll react. But Henry, the more you lie to her, the more you're guaranteeing that she's going to look at you exactly the way you've been worried she will."

He has reason to fear people's reactions, Abe knows; his father's shared too many stories where everything went drastically wrong after his secret was suspected or revealed. Even the few times it went right, like with his mother, in the end Henry was still left to deal with the consequences of his immortality.

But it's been almost thirty years since Abigail decided she couldn't handle it anymore and abandoned them both, and Abe thinks it's past time for his father to move on.

Henry doesn't seem to have an answer. "Do you remember," Abe says gently, "what you were doing with your free time before you met Jo?" He doesn't give him a chance to respond. "You'd lock yourself in your lab, searching for a way to die. Ever since you met the detective, you've started living your life again. She's been good for you, Henry. You should trust her."

"To what end?" he bursts out, clearly upset, and Abe realizes that Henry's been thinking about this for much longer than he's given him credit for. "So she can look at me as Nora did, as if I'm crazy? Or to watch her struggle with how to relate to me as she gets older but I stay the same? Or maybe to say goodbye to her when I have to move on because everyone has started to notice that I haven't aged?" He throws out his hands in a rare display of desperation. "Tell me, Abraham. For which of those outcomes should I hope?"

Abe doesn't answer right away, giving Henry a chance to gather himself. After a moment, he says, "I don't think you're giving Jo enough credit. That woman's stuck by you through everything since the two of you met, the same way you've stood by her. She's stronger than you think. And I hate to break it to you, Henry, but it's already going to hurt the both of you to say goodbye if you have to leave."

"Not as much as it could," Henry murmurs, and Abe can't ever know exactly what it's like for his father, but he can imagine enough.

"What's the alternative? You stop caring at all?" He arches an eyebrow. "You ever wonder if that's what happened to Adam? One day he decided to stop letting people get close, and the next thing you know he can't remember what it's like to be human."

Henry smiles at him. "How did you get to be so wise?"

"From Mom, obviously." Henry chuckles, and Abe claps him on the shoulder. "So? That mean you're gonna tell Jo?"

"I'll think about it," he says, which is more of an answer than Abe has managed to ever get from him before.

"Just get to it before you bury yourself in more lies," he advises, then decides that that's enough serious conversation for one evening. He claps his hands together. "So! What do you say to dinner?"

"I'm starving," Henry admits, starting to rise.

"Excellent. You put your pictures away, and I'll get started with the food." He turns to leave, but pauses when Henry calls his name.

"Thank you," Henry says. "For telling me what I likely needed to hear."

"Anytime, Henry," he promises, and leaves his father to put away his past. He's always thought Henry needed to spend more time in the present anyway.

For the first time in a long time, Abe thinks there's a good chance he will.

_\--end--_


End file.
